What to do? DDP or OOP?

[Disney8704]

OK I just went through all the menu's and figured out how much I would be saving if I went with the dining plan...$23! Thats it! So heres my thing. I LOVE TS meals and character meals and plan on doing several character, doing 1 TS and 1 CS everyday. Now there maybe times where we may not want lunch so therefor we will have CS credits left over. Now, we hardly ever get appitizers, they arent our thing, and as for deserts, love them, but sometimes cant fit one in the stomach. So heres my question. Should me and DH do the dining plan or not? If we dont always get deserts then we would actually be saving money by paying OOP. When I was figuring out everything I included deserts for lunch and dinner like we would get if we were on the plan. However having that no-worries here as for how much its gonna cost for each meal sounds great to. So Im stuck. I really do not know what to do. If we go on the DDP we will prob never get the appitizer and we will prob get a couple deserts along with the usual entree or buffett. So what should we do?

 

[bicker]

That's surprising. I've "done the math" for about six people so far, and every single one of them would save much more money with the Dining Plan than what you've indicated. We're going to save $122, and that is comparing the Dining Plan to OOP without factoring in any appetizers or any desserts. http://brianandrobbie.com/DiningPlanEstimatedCostsNoAppyNoDessert.htm

I suppose if you're planning on eating only one meal each day for a few days of your trip that could be the difference. However, is that really you're plan? You wouldn't be using the CS credits for breakfast, then?

 

[buzzgirls&dad]

Disney8704, We are in your same boat. If we would actually order an appetizer and dessert for each of us the DDP would save us a ton of money. But, were rarely do that, for no other reason than the huge portions you get with your entree. We would rather get a get a snack later in the evening than get it all at once with dinner. If I had hungry teenagers I would do DDP in a minute, but for Dh, me and DD7 it's just too much.

 

[Bibbidi]

A package made sense for our family when I priced it for a moderate. It was totally worth it to do the dining plan then. However, since we've upgrade to CR, I am better off with either AAA or hopefully an AP discount and then paying for our tickets and food OOP. My DH and oldest DD both have leftover park days from our last trip and that may be what skews the decision for us in favor of the OOP approach.

My DH and I never eat an appetizer, dinner and entree at every meal. We are still planning on doing a couple character meals and it still comes out to about $750 for the 6 nights we're staying. I will bring bottled water, cereal, other snacks with us anyway since we're driving down.

 

[indigoxtreme]

Did you include the tip and tax in your figures? Also if it save any amount for you, I feel it is worth it as you said no worries etc about if you change your mind and order something else more expensive than you originally calculated. Even if I broke even I would do it just to have the peace of mind that it is all paid for. At some of the counter service places, why don't you share a meal, then you can use the other CS credit for breakfast and a snack option could also be used for fresh fruit for breakfast etc.

 

[Disney8704]

If we were plan on doing the DDP we would pay OOP for breakfasts and our 1st meal because we would use that credit towards CRT and then Lunch CS Credit and Dinner TS Credit. And yes I did include everything. And no it wouldnt be just 1 meal per day. Thats including all 3 meals plus $100 for water.

That's surprising. I've "done the math" for about six people so far, and every single one of them would save much more money with the Dining Plan than what you've indicated. We're going to save $122, and that is comparing the Dining Plan to OOP without factoring in any appetizers or any desserts. http://brianandrobbie.com/DiningPlanEstimatedCostsNoAppyNoDessert.htm

I suppose if you're planning on eating only one meal each day for a few days of your trip that could be the difference. However, is that really you're plan? You wouldn't be using the CS credits for breakfast, then?

 

[Disney8704]

I know how you feel. Why pay for an appitizer that you probably only pick at and then 3/4 of the places we are going to the appitiziers arent very appealing to me or DH. So even if we did do the DDP, we still wouldnt even order an appitizer. I know how you feel about the snacks to. I think I gotten maybe 2 deserts out of a 10 night/11 day trip last time I went and that was only because I was extra hungry and it sounded so good and then I didnt even eat the whole desert. I mean take a look at some of these deserts like the smores at 50s prime time. We plan on eating there, and those smores look like it could feed both me and DH. So there you go, if we shared deserts we just saved some money right there plus it wouldnt go to waste since we both probably could either eat majority of it or all of it. And then if we still arent hungry after dinner, theres tons of shops and stands around to grab an ice cream or something. And depending on what you get you could either paying the same price for a snack as you would have for desert or even less. And its just me and DH, so I mean does this DDP really suite well for only 2 ppl? It probably is great savings when it comes to bigger families or ppl who have massive appetites. But 2 ppl? I mean even around here at home when I go out to eat we get our dinners and we will get deserts but take them home with us and they dont even get eaten till the next day. Not only that but to eat A LOT of food during hot days just isnt even healthy for you. You're supposed to eat less and drink more water. Now if we were going during like dec or Jan then you're supposed to eat more, but we are going in August.

Disney8704, We are in your same boat. If we would actually order an appetizer and dessert for each of us the DDP would save us a ton of money. But, were rarely do that, for no other reason than the huge portions you get with your entree. We would rather get a get a snack later in the evening than get it all at once with dinner. If I had hungry teenagers I would do DDP in a minute, but for Dh, me and DD7 it's just too much.

 

[Disney8704]

Yeap, I included everything. And I doubt we would order anything different. I know what me and DH like and a lot of the places we are going to theres only a couple things on the menu we actually liked, so I picked that stuff out and added it all up. As for sharing meals at lunch, good plan but we would have to many CS credits left over because we are only going to 1 CS Breakfast (Mara). The rest are all TS. Snacks they are gone already. They are being used primilary for water and water only.

Did you include the tip and tax in your figures? Also if it save any amount for you, I feel it is worth it as you said no worries etc about if you change your mind and order something else more expensive than you originally calculated. Even if I broke even I would do it just to have the peace of mind that it is all paid for. At some of the counter service places, why don't you share a meal, then you can use the other CS credit for breakfast and a snack option could also be used for fresh fruit for breakfast etc.